"Where do you live?" "Oh we're in North Arlington"

[Anonymous]

I never tell anyone I live in DC lol nor have I met anyone in Arlington who wishes they lived in DC

[Anonymous]

When people mention anything across the river, all I hear is “out of the Shire”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clarendon was the dump of north Arlington until 2000. Now in my opinion one of the best places to live in the dmv.

I regret selling my house there. But then again I live in ballston and have no mortgage since I paid 1.3 in cash years ago from the cash I made on Clarendon.

Hence, why us snobs say “north Arlington”.

Yep I remember when Ballston and Clarendon were shitholes. And you had a house there? It’d be worth at least a million today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When people mention anything across the river, all I hear is “out of the Shire”

Where’s that poster who calls everything provincial when you need them??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"North Arlington, not to be confused with South Arlington," is how I would take that comment.

this. it's definitely this. people have been saying this since the 80s, at least.

to follow up on this, what I understood was South Arlington was where poor immigrants lived in apartments (the horror!) whereas north arlington was "old virginia families" who were "wealthy" and lived in "single family homes." The people who said "North Arlington" would always sort of pause right after they said north, just to give it some emphasis. "North [breathy pause] Arlington [looks around the group for acknowledgement]."

Growing up in NoVA, people were so snobby about North Arlington that when I visited Yorktown HS for an event, I thought it was going to be some kind of amazing school with chocolate milk in the water fountains and mercedes in teh parking lots. Was disappointed to find it was just another NoVa high school, although i remember getting super lost on my way there, driving through the wilds of arlington in the pre-GPS days.

I think you are fabricating this story, right up to your stupid “breathy pause.” Arlington was not know for wealthy families until recently. That has anlways been what McLean has been know for. And some parts of North Arlington were in fact crappy. When I moved to Arlington after college from up north, one of my college classmate’s mom was nervous about me living in Ballston because “it was such a bad area.”

Lol, so glad someone else said this. I had friends who lived in a Ballston townhouse circa 1990, and it was considered borderline unsafe (not to mention my friends who dared live on the Hill).

Your anecdote proves my point. Ballston = Old South Arlington, aka "unsafe" and "crime ridden." Basically it went in gradients, with south of Route 50 "really bad" and south of 66 "borderline unsafe." That's exactly why people made such a big deal about living in "North Arlington" aka north of 29, the part of the county that's cuddled up next to McLean.

(Worthy of its own thread is a discussion of how Old McLean transformed from nice ranch houses and ramblers on ample lots to New McLean, a hellscape of colonial mcmansions united by one crappy shopping center.)

North and South Arlington is divided by Rt. 50, not Rt. 29.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"North Arlington, not to be confused with South Arlington," is how I would take that comment.

this. it's definitely this. people have been saying this since the 80s, at least.

to follow up on this, what I understood was South Arlington was where poor immigrants lived in apartments (the horror!) whereas north arlington was "old virginia families" who were "wealthy" and lived in "single family homes." The people who said "North Arlington" would always sort of pause right after they said north, just to give it some emphasis. "North [breathy pause] Arlington [looks around the group for acknowledgement]."

Growing up in NoVA, people were so snobby about North Arlington that when I visited Yorktown HS for an event, I thought it was going to be some kind of amazing school with chocolate milk in the water fountains and mercedes in teh parking lots. Was disappointed to find it was just another NoVa high school, although i remember getting super lost on my way there, driving through the wilds of arlington in the pre-GPS days.

I think you are fabricating this story, right up to your stupid “breathy pause.” Arlington was not know for wealthy families until recently. That has anlways been what McLean has been know for. And some parts of North Arlington were in fact crappy. When I moved to Arlington after college from up north, one of my college classmate’s mom was nervous about me living in Ballston because “it was such a bad area.”

Lol, so glad someone else said this. I had friends who lived in a Ballston townhouse circa 1990, and it was considered borderline unsafe (not to mention my friends who dared live on the Hill).

Your anecdote proves my point. Ballston = Old South Arlington, aka "unsafe" and "crime ridden." Basically it went in gradients, with south of Route 50 "really bad" and south of 66 "borderline unsafe." That's exactly why people made such a big deal about living in "North Arlington" aka north of 29, the part of the county that's cuddled up next to McLean.

(Worthy of its own thread is a discussion of how Old McLean transformed from nice ranch houses and ramblers on ample lots to New McLean, a hellscape of colonial mcmansions united by one crappy shopping center.)

North and South Arlington is divided by Rt. 50, not Rt. 29.

29 is the line for North North Arlington.

And then way up there is Upper Caucasia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clarendon was the dump of north Arlington until 2000. Now in my opinion one of the best places to live in the dmv.

I regret selling my house there. But then again I live in ballston and have no mortgage since I paid 1.3 in cash years ago from the cash I made on Clarendon.

Hence, why us snobs say “north Arlington”.

But … you have to live in Ballston. Poor thing…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"North Arlington, not to be confused with South Arlington," is how I would take that comment.

this. it's definitely this. people have been saying this since the 80s, at least.

to follow up on this, what I understood was South Arlington was where poor immigrants lived in apartments (the horror!) whereas north arlington was "old virginia families" who were "wealthy" and lived in "single family homes." The people who said "North Arlington" would always sort of pause right after they said north, just to give it some emphasis. "North [breathy pause] Arlington [looks around the group for acknowledgement]."

Growing up in NoVA, people were so snobby about North Arlington that when I visited Yorktown HS for an event, I thought it was going to be some kind of amazing school with chocolate milk in the water fountains and mercedes in teh parking lots. Was disappointed to find it was just another NoVa high school, although i remember getting super lost on my way there, driving through the wilds of arlington in the pre-GPS days.

I think you are fabricating this story, right up to your stupid “breathy pause.” Arlington was not know for wealthy families until recently. That has anlways been what McLean has been know for. And some parts of North Arlington were in fact crappy. When I moved to Arlington after college from up north, one of my college classmate’s mom was nervous about me living in Ballston because “it was such a bad area.”

Lol, so glad someone else said this. I had friends who lived in a Ballston townhouse circa 1990, and it was considered borderline unsafe (not to mention my friends who dared live on the Hill).

Your anecdote proves my point. Ballston = Old South Arlington, aka "unsafe" and "crime ridden." Basically it went in gradients, with south of Route 50 "really bad" and south of 66 "borderline unsafe." That's exactly why people made such a big deal about living in "North Arlington" aka north of 29, the part of the county that's cuddled up next to McLean.

(Worthy of its own thread is a discussion of how Old McLean transformed from nice ranch houses and ramblers on ample lots to New McLean, a hellscape of colonial mcmansions united by one crappy shopping center.)

North and South Arlington is divided by Rt. 50, not Rt. 29.

29 is the line for North North Arlington.

And then way up there is Upper Caucasia.

That isn’t a racist thing to say at all.

[Anonymous]

Means nothing to me. I think Arlington ppl think North Arlington is fancy. I think all of Arlington is ugly. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in North Arlington but I say Arlington when people ask where I live. It would never occur to me to narrow it further unless someone asked, in which case I would refer to the closest big neighborhood that someone was likely to know.

Same. I think it’s odd and unnecessary to add in the North part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tell people I’m from NYC as if I grew up waltzing through Manhattan with sophistication

I’m from Staten Island

Hey Colin Jost and Pete Davidson are from SI!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"North Arlington, not to be confused with South Arlington," is how I would take that comment.

this. it's definitely this. people have been saying this since the 80s, at least.

to follow up on this, what I understood was South Arlington was where poor immigrants lived in apartments (the horror!) whereas north arlington was "old virginia families" who were "wealthy" and lived in "single family homes." The people who said "North Arlington" would always sort of pause right after they said north, just to give it some emphasis. "North [breathy pause] Arlington [looks around the group for acknowledgement]."

Growing up in NoVA, people were so snobby about North Arlington that when I visited Yorktown HS for an event, I thought it was going to be some kind of amazing school with chocolate milk in the water fountains and mercedes in teh parking lots. Was disappointed to find it was just another NoVa high school, although i remember getting super lost on my way there, driving through the wilds of arlington in the pre-GPS days.

I think you are fabricating this story, right up to your stupid “breathy pause.” Arlington was not know for wealthy families until recently. That has anlways been what McLean has been know for. And some parts of North Arlington were in fact crappy. When I moved to Arlington after college from up north, one of my college classmate’s mom was nervous about me living in Ballston because “it was such a bad area.”

Lol, so glad someone else said this. I had friends who lived in a Ballston townhouse circa 1990, and it was considered borderline unsafe (not to mention my friends who dared live on the Hill).

Your anecdote proves my point. Ballston = Old South Arlington, aka "unsafe" and "crime ridden." Basically it went in gradients, with south of Route 50 "really bad" and south of 66 "borderline unsafe." That's exactly why people made such a big deal about living in "North Arlington" aka north of 29, the part of the county that's cuddled up next to McLean.

(Worthy of its own thread is a discussion of how Old McLean transformed from nice ranch houses and ramblers on ample lots to New McLean, a hellscape of colonial mcmansions united by one crappy shopping center.)

North and South Arlington is divided by Rt. 50, not Rt. 29.

29 is the line for North North Arlington.

And then way up there is Upper Caucasia.

That isn’t a racist thing to say at all.

Correct. That’s not a racist thing to say.

It’s whiter than Santa Claus’ butt in the tippy top part of Arlington.

-white person

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Means nothing to me. I think Arlington ppl think North Arlington is fancy. I think all of Arlington is ugly. YMMV.

It fits perfectly into the whole fugly DC area.

[Anonymous]

If sibb no dove says arlington to me, I’d assume north arlington. It’s kind of redundant. I do think people admit south arlington with a bit of shame though there are some beautiful parts. There’s also four mile run and green valley.

[Anonymous]

[mastodon]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clarendon was the dump of north Arlington until 2000. Now in my opinion one of the best places to live in the dmv.

I regret selling my house there. But then again I live in ballston and have no mortgage since I paid 1.3 in cash years ago from the cash I made on Clarendon.

Hence, why us snobs say “north Arlington”.

But … you have to live in Ballston. Poor thing…

Ballston is nice now.